Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/191

 TOOMBS

TORBERT

1862, the general assembly of Georgia elected him a Confederate States senator, with Benjamin H. Hill as his colleague. He commanded his bri- gade in Magruder"s division during the campaign on the Peninsula, and a division made up of his own and Semmes's brigades, during the siege of Yorktown. At the battle of Malvern Hill, his brigade lost one third of its entire number of men, and the disaster led to a personal contro- Tersy between Gen. D. H. Hill, commanding the 1st division, and General Toombs. Tliis in turn resulted in his arrest, by order of President Davis, on Aug. 18, 1863, and he rejoined his bri- gade, then in D.R. Jones's division, Longstreet's corps, on the battlefield of Manassas, Aug. 29, 1862, His gallantry in guarding the bridge on Antietam Creek, with 400 men, was an incident of the battle of Sharpsburg, Sept. 15. 1862, that received special mention in General Lee's report, and the highest commendation from Generals Longstreet, Jones and Garrett. He received severe wounds in this engagement, and was inva- lided at home in Georgia, rejoining his command in the spring of 1863, but in March resigned his commission in the army, without receiving rec- ognition from President Davis for his services at Sharpsburg by promotion to major-general, which the reports of his superior officers on the field, and the request of a member of the cab- inet, failed to secure. He returned to Georgia, offered his services to Governor Brown, and was made an adjutant and inspector-general of Gen. G. W. Smith's division, Georgia militia, taking part in the battles before Atlanta, and the siege of that city under General Hood, the siege of Savannah, December, 1864, and in the battle of Pocotaligo, S.C, Jan. 14, 1865. He was named hy the United States authorities with Jefferson Davis, Alexander H. Stephens, Howell Cobb and John Slidell, as responsible for the war of the Rebellion, and Secretary Stanton issued specific orders for the arrest of Davis, Stephens and Toombs. Davis was arrested at Irwinville, Ga., May 10 ; Stephens at his home in Crawfordville, May 12, and on May 14, the U.S. soldiers ap- peared at Mr. Toombs' home in Washington, Ga., and demanded his appearance. He, however, escaped to Elbert county, where he was in the hands of friends, thence to Habersham, and back through Elbert, Wilkes, Hancock, Washington, Wilkinson, Twiggs, Houston and Macon counties into Alabama, to Mobile, thence by boat to New Orleans and by steam to Havana and Europe, reaching Paris. France, early in July, 1865, where Mrs. Toombs joined him in July, 1866, but re- turned to the United States in December of that year, owing to the death of their only daughter, the wife of Gen. Dudley M. DuBose. General Toombs returned to Canada in January, 1867, X.— 12

and called on President Johnson, in Washington, on his way home. He was never restored to citi- zenship in the United States, as he refused to petition congress for pardon. He practised law in Washington, Ga., in partnership with his son- in-law. General Dubose, and acquired a consid- erable fortune. He was a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1877 ; was made chairman of the committee on legislation, and of the final committee on revision, and when the convention lacked funds to continue its sessions, he declared that if Georgia would not pay her debts, he would, and at once placed the needed funds in the hands of the president of the con- vention. The constitution, framed by that con- vention, was adopted by the people of Georgia, at the election in December, 1877. He pro- nounced a eulogium at the funeral of his life- long friend, Alexander H. Stephens. His wife died at Clarksville, Ga., in September, 1883. See : " Life of Robert Toombs," by Pleasant A. Stovall (1892). He died at his home in Washington, Ga., Dec. 18, 1885.

TORBERT, Alfred Thomas Archimedes, soldier, was born in Georgetown, Del., July 1. 1833. He was graduated from the U.S. Military academy, July 1, 1855; commissioned second lieutenant, July 19, 1855, and was assigned to the 5th U.S. infantry, doing frontier and garris- son duty until Feb. 25, 1861, when he was pro- moted 1st lieutenant. He was made recruiting officer in New Jersey, in April, 1861 ; appointed colonel of the 1st New Jersey volunteers, Sept. 16. 1861; promoted captain, LLS.A., Sept. 25, 1861, and was on duty in Washington, D.C. On March 10, 1862, he joined the Army of the Poto- mac and was attached to the sixth corps ; en- gaged in the siege of Yorktown, the combats at West Point and Gaines's Mill, and the seven days' battles. Aft«r the Peninsular campaign, the sixth corps was stationed at Alexandria, and when or- dered to support Pope, at Manassas, it met his re- treating army. Colonel Torbert commanded a brigade at Fairfax Court House, driving off a detachment of J. E. B. Stuart's artillery ; was en- gaged in the Maryland campaign ; at Crampton's Gap, Sept. 14, 1862, where he led one of the brig- ades in Slocum's charge, and at Antietam, Sept. 17. On Nov. 29, 1862, he was promoted brigadier- general of volunteers, retaining command of the 1st brigade, 1st division, 6th army corps ; distin- guished himself in the battle of Fredericksburg. Dec. 13, 1862, and immediately after the battle was granted a sick-leave for the following six months. He rejoined his brigade in Pennsylvania in June. 1868, and fought under Sedgwick at Gettysburg, and for his gallant and meritorious services at that battle was brevetted major, U.S.A., July 4, 1863. He fought at Rappahannock station, Nov. 7, 1863,